Bhubaneswar hospital fire: Government forms probe panel

The state government formed a three-member committee to probe the fire mishap at Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, a private medical college and hospital that killed at least 22 people on Monday evening.Ashok Pradhan | TNN | October 18, 2016, 09:07 IST

Photo credit: ANI/ TwitterBHUBANESWAR: The state government formed a three-member committee to probe the fire mishap at Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, a private medical college and hospital that killed at least 22 people on Monday evening.

Health secretary Arti Ahuja said director medical education and training will lead the panel. “Khurda district collector and a senior officer of fire safety will be other members of the panel,” she said. “The panel will inquire whether the hospital had enough fire safety mechanism in place as per norms and the cause of fire,” Ahuja said.

The 1000-bed hospital’s fire safety mechanism has come under scanner especially since the the hospital failed to have a quick response resulting in spread of the fire after it broke out in the dialysis ward on the second floor and spread to the children’s ward.

While panicked patients tried to jump off the windows, firemen were seen bundling them in clothes while rescuing them from the second floor.

Health minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said anyone found guilty will not be spared. “Our current priority is to ensure the quickest and best possible treatment to the victims. The probe will find all facets of the incident,” he said.

In the wake of the December 9, 2011, AMRI fire tragedy in Kolkata, the fire services department in Odisha had started “fire safety audit” of buildings, with special focus on hospitals. A committee was constituted under the chief fire officer after the AMRI tragedy. It was supposed to undertake a complete audit of hospitals and high-rises at the earliest. The move remained mostly a non-starter.

The government had then asked all the district collectors and chief district medical officers to submit a report on fire safety in healthcare institutions within a week. It had then given a deadline to private hospitals to comply with measures such as sufficient fire-fighting measures exist in the buildings depending on their size, enough fire extinguishers on each floors, proper access roads and training of its staff.

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